Bianca & Aidan: A St Peter's Eastern Hill Wedding

Bianca and Aidan married at St Peter's Eastern Hill on the first Saturday of October 2026, with about eighty of their people around them. It was an overcast spring afternoon in East Melbourne, the kind that gives soft, even light from every side, and that suited the plan: the ceremony in the church, then portraits on foot at Parliament House and through the gardens on either side of it, then a night in the Cabinet Room at The Imperial Hotel.

Jay and Sofia photographed the day from half past two until half past nine, on digital and on 35mm film. Twenty of the frames in this story are film scans, and they sit beside the digital ones in the order the day happened.

Black and white photo of Bianca smiling in her long veil at the front of the church

Waiting at the front

A little after three, Aidan was waiting at the front of the church with the priest, in a black dinner suit and bow tie with a big white flower in his lapel. A few minutes later Bianca was standing beside him. Her gown was ivory, with long sleeves, a deep V neck and a long train edged in pale blue lace flowers, and the same blue lace ran along the edge of her cathedral-length veil, which spread across the floor behind her. Her bouquet was white and pale blue with greenery. For the readings the two of them sat side by side in the front pew, holding hands, with the guests filling the rows behind them and an older guest in a flowered hat listening from the pews.

Bianca and Aidan holding hands as they sit in the front pew, guests in the rows behind them

Black and white photo of guests in the pews during the ceremony, an older guest in a flowered hat among them, on 35mm film

Bianca smiling up at Aidan at the altar of St Peter's Eastern Hill

Vows before the altar

For the vows they stood before the priest at the top of the red carpeted steps, hands joined, while he read. He wore a cream and gold vestment, and behind him the gold reredos caught what light the grey afternoon gave. Bianca smiled up at Aidan, and he smiled straight back at her. From the back of the church, on 35mm film, it is all dark timber pews full of people and the tall arch to the sanctuary. The light in St Peter's comes warm and low from its lamps and stained glass windows, and it works just as well in black and white as in colour.

The priest reading as Bianca and Aidan hold hands before the altar, red carpet under their feet

Black and white photo of the ceremony inside St Peter's Eastern Hill, seen from the back of the church, on 35mm film

Aidan smiling at Bianca at the altar, a white flower in his lapel

A kiss, and back down the aisle

The kiss came at twenty five to four, beneath the gold of the reredos. Before they left the sanctuary, the two of them knelt together at the rail of the high altar for a couple of quiet minutes. Then they came down the red carpeted steps hand in hand and walked out along the tiled aisle, Bianca's bouquet in one hand and Aidan's hand in the other, past every pew and a church full of smiling faces. From the first frame of Aidan waiting to the last of the walk out, the ceremony took a little over half an hour.

Bianca and Aidan kissing at the altar beneath the church's gold reredos

Bianca and Aidan starting down the red carpeted steps from the altar at the end of the ceremony

Bianca and Aidan walking back down the aisle past their guests, her bouquet in hand

Bianca and Aidan on the steps at the church's arched wooden door, on 35mm film

At the church door

The guests met them in the porch, and Bianca went from one smiling face to the next with her veil down her back. We took a few frames on film at the arched timber door and on its steps, one of them with the end of the roll burnt white beside the two of them in the dark doorway. Then came the family photographs on the stone steps in front of the red door, with their parents and four children in white: two girls in white dresses and two boys in white shirts and dark trousers. An older guest in a dark hat with a cream flower watched it all from a seat outside, smiling.

Black and white photo of Bianca, her veil down her back, greeting smiling guests in the church porch, on 35mm film

Aidan and Bianca close together in a dark doorway, the end of the roll burnt white beside them, on 35mm film

An older guest in a dark hat with a cream flower and a patterned jacket, smiling as she sits outside the church, on 35mm film

Friends in the gardens

Their timeline sent us next to Parliament Gardens, between the church and Parliament House. The flower beds were full of pink and red, and Bianca's long train spread out over the grass beside them. This part of the afternoon belonged to their friends: a crowd of women in black, navy, burgundy and green, all laughing around the two of them, Bianca between two friends in navy with her bouquet in hand, and a friend in green kissing her on the cheek. Bianca and Aidan held up their hands to show off their rings and laughed their way through it. Most of these frames are on 35mm film, and the flowers and the dark dresses gave it plenty of colour to work with.

Bianca's long train spread over the grass as she and Aidan stand beside a flower bed, on 35mm film

Bianca and Aidan laughing as they show their rings in the garden, on 35mm film

Bianca and Aidan kissing in front of the flower beds, on 35mm film

Bianca laughing with two friends in front of beds of pink and red flowers

Bianca and Aidan laughing with a group of friends in dark dresses in the gardens, on 35mm film

Bianca laughing between two friends in navy dresses, her blue and white bouquet in hand, on 35mm film

A friend in green kissing Bianca on the cheek beside the flower beds, on 35mm film

Bianca and Aidan kissing in the long colonnade of Parliament House, its patterned tiles and vaulted ceiling running away behind them

The colonnade of Parliament House

Just after five we reached Parliament House. Its colonnade gives you a lot within a few steps: tall sandstone columns, a vaulted ceiling and patterned tiles that run away into the distance. Bianca and Aidan stood beside a column, walked out between them and kissed with the length of the colonnade behind them, and the overcast sky kept the light soft on their faces. In one close frame Bianca is laughing up at Aidan, his white buttonhole right beside her. On film we made three more portraits by the columns, then one at the carved timber doors, with her veil and train spread across the tiles.

Black and white close up of Bianca laughing up at Aidan beside his white buttonhole

Bianca and Aidan in the colonnade of Parliament House, patterned tiles at their feet

Bianca and Aidan standing beside a column in the colonnade of Parliament House, patterned tiles at their feet

Black and white photo of Bianca and Aidan small among the tall columns of the Parliament House colonnade

Black and white photo of Bianca and Aidan walking out between the columns, Aidan smiling

Bianca and Aidan kissing between tall sandstone columns, on 35mm film

Aidan kissing Bianca's temple beside a stone column, on 35mm film

Aidan and Bianca standing side by side beside a sandstone column, Bianca smiling, on 35mm film

Bianca and Aidan at the carved timber doors of Parliament House, her veil and train over the tiles, on 35mm film

The front steps

From the colonnade we went down to the wide front steps on Spring Street, where the old lamps stand on either side. Bianca and Aidan held hands between the lamps, and on film they stood together beside one of them. It took only a few minutes. The last frame at Parliament House is a close one: Bianca smiling up as Aidan leaned in, nose to nose, with the stone of the building behind them.

Bianca and Aidan holding hands on the wide steps of Parliament House between the old lamps

Bianca and Aidan standing together on the steps of Parliament House beside an old lamp, on 35mm film

A close portrait of Bianca smiling up as Aidan leans in, nose to nose

Under the old trees of Treasury Gardens

Treasury Gardens was the last stop before the reception, at about half past five. Its avenue of old trees makes a long, shaded walk, and Bianca and Aidan took it hand in hand. Her dress swung with every step and the veil trailed behind her along the path. Aidan touched her face. Bianca held her veil out wide between the trunks, Aidan lifted it as she turned, and she threw her arms around him in a laughing hug. On film we finished among the tree ferns, the veil falling around the two of them, and with a close frame of her hand in his, the rings catching the light.

Bianca and Aidan walking hand in hand along an avenue of old trees, on 35mm film

Black and white close up of Bianca’s dress swinging as she and Aidan walk along the garden path

Aidan touching Bianca's face as she smiles in the garden

Bianca and Aidan holding hands on the avenue path, her veil trailing behind her, on 35mm film

Black and white photo of Aidan lifting Bianca’s veil as she turns on the avenue path, on 35mm film

Bianca throwing her arms around Aidan in a laughing hug

Bianca and Aidan embracing among tree ferns, her veil falling around them, on 35mm film

Close up of Bianca's hand in Aidan's, her rings catching the light, on 35mm film

Into the Cabinet Room

The night was in the Cabinet Room at The Imperial Hotel. A sign read "Let's Celebrate" with their first names, above a spray of white and blue flowers to match the bouquet. Just after six, Bianca and Aidan walked in through their cheering guests and went straight to the champagne, taking the first sips together. Over the evening there was a photo carousel, with everyone lining up for a picture with the two of them, and by half past eight Bianca was on the dance floor with her arms in the air among her guests.

A sign reading Let’s Celebrate with Aidan and Bianca’s first names above white and blue flowers, on 35mm film

Bianca and Aidan walking into the Cabinet Room at The Imperial Hotel as their guests cheer

Bianca and Aidan sipping champagne together at the reception

Black and white photo of Bianca dancing with her arms in the air among her guests

Cake, sunglasses and the first dance

At twenty five past nine they cut their cake, three white tiers with blue flowers and a little couple on top. Then the heart-shaped sunglasses came out. Bianca danced in them first, then Aidan wore them while Bianca held his face in her hands. Their first dance came last, at half past nine, in a spotlight on the dance floor, to Elton John's "Your Song". It was the final thing we photographed that night.

Bianca and Aidan cutting a tiered white cake at the reception

Bianca dancing in heart-shaped sunglasses at the reception

Aidan wearing the heart-shaped sunglasses as Bianca holds his face on the dance floor

Black and white photo of Bianca and Aidan's first dance in a spotlight

Digital and 35mm film

We photographed the day on two kinds of camera: digital for every moment as it happened, and 35mm film alongside it. Film sees colour a little warmer and softer and has its own grain, and it can surprise you, like the burnt end of a roll at the church door. In this story it covers everything from the black and white view across the pews to the tree ferns in Treasury Gardens. The digital edit is warm and true to colour, with black and white through the day where the light and the moment suited it.